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Monthly review: July 2021

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  • I got my second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, hooray!
  • We built LEGO Great Ball Contraptions.
  • A- and I played with a lot of math by extending Numberblocks: squares, cubes, greatest common factors, least common denominators, and memorizing numbers.
  • A- had lots of fun with forward and backward rolls.
  • We worked with kitchen clay and papier mache.
  • We harvested lots of basil and tomatoes. We also picked a few bitter melons.
  • I accidentally cooked my sourdough starter, but I was able to revive it from my backup in the freezer.

Blog posts

Time
Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
Sleep 31.8 36.1 4.3 62.8 7.2
Business 1.3 3.5 2.1 6.0 3.6
Personal 5.9 7.1 1.2 12.3 2.1
Discretionary - Play 0.1 0.6 0.5 1.1 0.9
Unpaid work 7.9 8.3 0.4 14.4 0.7
Discretionary - Social 0.0 0.0 -0.0 0.0 -0.1
Discretionary - Family 0.9 0.5 -0.3 0.9 -0.5
A- 43.0 39.3 -3.7 68.3 -6.2
Discretionary - Productive 9.1 4.6 -4.5 7.9 -7.6
You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.
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Monthly review: May 2021

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  • I got my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine!
  • A- got interested in making friends at the playground. She usually found one or two kids to play with. She also started trying out the splash pad.
  • My Georgi keyboard finally arrived. I can slowly write journal entries on the couch. It will take me a long time before I can get fast enough to keep up with videos and presentations, but hey, a journey of a thousand miles and all that… I've also been learning how to modify Plover and write plugins. Yay Python!
  • The garden is starting to take off. I moved many seedlings outside and started more. We planted flowers, too.
  • We sold A-'s old bikes and bought her a 16" one. She had lots of fun biking with us.
  • I sewed dresses for A-.

Blog posts

Time

Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
Discretionary - Productive 9.6 13.3 3.7 23.1 6.2
Unpaid work 3.4 5.4 2.0 9.4 3.4
Personal 5.3 6.6 1.4 11.5 2.3
Discretionary - Social 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.2
Discretionary - Family 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1
Business 1.0 0.7 -0.3 1.1 -0.6
Discretionary - Play 0.7 0.1 -0.6 0.2 -1.0
Sleep 33.3 31.6 -1.7 54.9 -2.8
A- 46.7 42.1 -4.6 73.1 -7.7
You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.
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Monthly review: April 2021

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  • I switched from Wordpress to a static blog.
  • Lots of Emacs tweaks: getting the hang of Lispy, asynchronously tangling and compiling my config, posting to Eleventy.
  • I sewed grow bags for the strawberries and we worked on the garden. It's still a little chilly, so we've been moving plants in and out.
  • I'm still in the stage of reading a gazillion books out loud to A-. I've been sneakily using it as first-letter-of-words steno practice with the hand that's not pointing to what I'm reading, which has the side benefit of slowing my reading down so that it's easier for her to understand things. Mwahaha!
  • I bought a used Maxi Micro scooter for A-. She liked it a lot. I ordered new handles for her, too.
  • A- was excited about the big feathers I bought for use as quills and has been practising with them.
  • We made a couple of cakes because A- wanted to experiment.
  • I worked on a few more long dresses and a couple of fabric flowers for A.
  • We saw a squirrel nest fall. The mama squirrel came back for the baby squirrel.

Blog posts

Sketches

Time

Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
A- 44.4 46.7 2.3 76.0 3.8
Personal 4.6 5.3 0.7 8.6 1.1
Discretionary - Play 0.6 0.7 0.1 1.1 0.2
Unpaid work 3.4 3.4 -0.0 5.5 -0.0
Discretionary - Social 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Discretionary - Family 0.2 0.0 -0.2 0.0 -0.3
Business 1.8 1.0 -0.8 1.6 -1.3
Discretionary - Productive 10.4 9.6 -0.7 15.7 -1.3
Sleep 34.6 33.3 -1.3 54.2 -2.2
You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.
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Monthly review: March 2021

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Lots of coding again this month!

  • Emacs News: I wrote some code to schedule announcements on IRC and Twitter, and I pulled the other meetups' iCal feeds in automatically.
  • Streaming: I tried streaming again, but I think OBS was taking up too much CPU and it made my computer a little too unresponsive. I'll try streaming from OBS to Twitch instead of using ffmpeg to multicast next time.
  • Captions: I wrote some code to use word-level timing from Google's video transcripts when splitting subtitles. I experimented with redirecting my automatic caption output into Emacs, using it to dictate a few sentences.
  • Video processing: I split the BigBlueButton video based on XML, writing some Emacs Lisp code to generate title clips with LaTeX and make the FFMPEG commands to cut by keyframes when possible. I split out audio into a separate track for smoother playback.
  • Publishing: I added the ability to expand all, collapse all, and toggle visibility of headings in my exported HTML. I added night mode to my blog, and I removed the search form and sidebar.
  • Other Emacs improvements: I added preview to my consult function for reading a sketch filename. I added the ability to set the category and add other text to my journal from Emacs.
  • Drawing:
    • I drew a lot during A-‘s classes. I practised sketching plants following “Illustration School: Let's Draw Plants and Small Creatures.”
    • I tried sketching in both Concepts and Procreate. They're both nice. I modified my sketch viewer to handle SVGs. I figured out how to switch colours on the SVG I exported from Concepts so that it could respect dark mode. I also changed my stylesheet.
    • I wrote some Emacs Lisp code to extract paths or groups to individual SVGs in preparation for updating my font.
  • Other:
    • I sewed some long dresses and a bonnet for A-. She wears them often. I also sewed a pair of pajama pants for myself.
    • I ordered the Georgi chording keyboard. I want to see if I can get the hang of stenography for captioning, writing, and coding.

Blog posts

Sketches

Time

Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
Sleep 30.1 34.6 4.4 64.2 7.4
Business 0.7 1.8 1.1 3.3 1.8
Discretionary – Family 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.3
Discretionary – Play 0.5 0.6 0.1 1.1 0.2
Discretionary – Social 0.1 0.0 -0.1 0.0 -0.1
Unpaid work 3.6 3.4 -0.2 6.4 -0.3
A- 45.9 44.4 -1.5 82.6 -2.5
Personal 6.2 4.6 -1.5 8.6 -2.6
Discretionary – Productive 12.9 10.4 -2.5 19.3 -4.2
You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.
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Monthly review: February 2021

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  • Streaming:
    • I experimented with streaming to Twitch.
    • I added a hydra for switching OBS scenes.
    • I added a marginalia function for hiding password-ish variables.
    • I got captions to flow from my phone to Node to Emacs to OBS to Twitch. There's some delay, but it's a good starting point that might come in handy for live captioning my own stuff.
    • I experimented with using impatient-mode to share live show notes.
    • I wrote some code to split a video and its subtitles based on the selected region in Emacs.
  • Emacs:
    • I added regexp-based autocategorization to Emacs News.
    • I tried out pretty-hydra.
    • I wrote some commands to remotely control Geeqie from Emacs. They're useful for quickly flipping through images.
    • I got Embark to recognize headings from my Org agenda.
    • I attended the EmacsSF, EmacsNYC, and EmacsATX meetups.
  • Other coding:
    • I added photoswipe to A-‘s learning stories and my sketch gallery.
    • I removed lots of old docker images from my laptop and server, so now there's a bit more space on my root partition.
    • I tried using the TV as a second monitor, but typing on the coffee table was too awkward. I dusted off my Cintiq and set it up again.
    • I added photoswipe to my sketch gallery.
    • I broke Quantified Awesome in the process of trying to fix the http/https issue. I managed to fix it, and I think I have a reasonable docker image for it at least for now. I also disabled sign-ups and added a warning message.
    • I needed to restore from my Linode backup because I deleted more files than I intended to. Fortunately, the backups worked.
    • I started configuring 11ty to generate a static copy of my site. Neat! Search might be a challenge, though.
  • Us:
    • I started thinking about the second half of virtual kindergarten.
    • I spent some time tidying up my Org Mode inboxes. I'm actually reasonably up to date now, yay!
    • I tried out making yogurt. It turned out all right.
    • W- cleared off lots of snow from the roof so that it would melt away from the house.
    • I finished knitting a hat for A- and crocheting slipper socks for me.

Blog posts

Sketches

Time

Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
A- 43.5 45.4 1.8 68.8 3.1
Sleep 28.6 30.1 1.6 45.7 2.6
Personal 6.0 6.8 0.8 10.3 1.3
Discretionary – Play 0.0 0.5 0.5 0.8 0.8
Unpaid work 3.6 3.6 0.0 5.5 0.0
Discretionary – Social 0.2 0.1 -0.1 0.1 -0.2
Discretionary – Family 0.3 0.0 -0.3 0.0 -0.5
Business 2.1 0.7 -1.4 1.1 -2.4
Discretionary – Productive 15.6 12.9 -2.8 19.5 -4.7
You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.
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Monthly review: January 2021

Posted: - Modified: | monthly, review
  • Emacs:
    • Made an HTML and Org calendar thing for Emacs meetups which summarizes Emacs meetups in different timezones.
    • Hacked up a quick obs-websocket client for Emacs using websocket.el and I sent it to mplsCorwin.
    • Wrote some Emacs Lisp to summarize an Org entry in different timezones.
    • Tweaked subed.el to make it easier for me to split subtitles.
    • Figured out how to make it easier to post to my journal.
    • Finished editing the captions for the first day of EmacsConf 2020.
    • Started checking out 11ty, a static site generator.
    • Fixed my code for doing weekly reviews.
  • Other tech:
    • Set up znc-push to talk to Telegram.
    • Set up Nginx to serve static files for my journal and sketches.
    • Thought about my scanning workflow. I want to be able to file our sketches and eventually get a sense of our progress through time. Loading images in Emacs still seems a little too slow, so maybe I should get the hang of geeqie.
    • Returned my new laptop because I wanted to hold out for a machine with even more memory, and I wasn't as comfortable drawing on it as I was on my old one.
    • Made a MIDI of the teacher's opening song, and I experimented with creating animated lyrics.
    • Made a typing tutor for A- that showed which key to press and displayed a random picture when she completed the word. 2021-01-26-02
  • School:
    • Learned how to use Google Sheets custom functions to summarize observations by keywords.
    • Figured out how to make a spreadsheet of Youtube channel videos with durations by modifying yt-videos-list. That might come in handy for filtering Numberblocks videos by duration.
    • Gave some of our Duplo to A-‘s kindergarten teacher.
  • Household:
    • Sorted A-‘s old clothes and toys for giving away.
    • Sewed a slipcover for the sofa out of the Ultrasuede sofa wrap I made before.
    • Knitted rainbow hats and scarves for A- and me. I crocheted slipper socks for her, too.
    • Made a LEGO playing card holder for A- so that she could hide her cards from us instead of playing face-up. She promptly challenged us to Crazy Eights and won a few games.

Blog posts

Sketches

Time

Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
Discretionary – Productive 9.8 15.6 5.9 26.3 9.9
Personal 4.9 6.0 1.1 10.1 1.8
Business 1.4 2.1 0.8 3.6 1.3
Unpaid work 3.3 3.6 0.3 6.0 0.5
Discretionary – Social 0.4 0.2 -0.2 0.3 -0.3
Discretionary – Family 0.6 0.3 -0.3 0.5 -0.5
Discretionary – Play 0.4 0.0 -0.4 0.0 -0.6
A- 46.2 43.5 -2.7 73.1 -4.5
Sleep 33.1 28.6 -4.5 48.0 -7.6

I stayed up late to do things.

You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.
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Monthly review: August 2020

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  • We played with lots of LEGO: building sets and our own creations, and making up stories and games. A- had fun inventing new rules and events in Heroica.
  • A- practised playing independently with LEGO or Khan Academy Kids while I did some consulting. I shared some of my earnings with her, so she kept encouraging me to work more. That freed up evening discretionary time for personal projects.
  • I added lots of little things to my journaling system to help me use it as a Zettelkasten. I also started digging into analyzing and visualizing it using Python.
  • We rehabilitated the main planter box and draped some mesh over the tomatoes on the deck.
  • I sewed some skirts for A- and me.
  • I worked on sneaking more math into everyday play.
  • A- read lots of books on her own.
  • A- and I wore our masks inside stores and the library. Whee!
  • Because of LEGO board games, A- was curious about mummies, minotaurs, zombies, and vampires.

Blog posts

Sketches

Time

Category Previous month % This month % Diff % h/wk Diff h/wk
Business 0.5 3.2 2.7 5.4 4.5
Unpaid work 3.3 3.9 0.5 6.5 0.9
Discretionary – Productive 8.4 9.0 0.5 15.1 0.9
Discretionary – Play 0.1 0.3 0.2 0.5 0.4
Personal 4.3 4.2 -0.1 7.0 -0.2
Discretionary – Family 1.2 0.8 -0.4 1.3 -0.6
Sleep 31.5 30.1 -1.4 50.5 -2.4
A- 50.7 48.6 -2.1 81.7 -3.5
You can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.
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